Back to this World of Ours ((Kia))

[ciaran]

Ciaran closed his trunk with a thud. “Oh, don’t do that!” A voice’s said walking in the room. Ciaran turned around. It was Finnea of course. “Don’t do what Finn?” He asked in an annoyed way. Finnea had her hands on her hips and a funny stare on her faced. She walked over to Ciaran’s bed on the other side of the room. “Don’t close your trunk.” She said. Her face had a sickened expression on it and as she sat on the side of the bed next to his trunk. “I kind have to since I’m leaving in a couple of hours.” He said calmly walking over to his closet to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything. “I don’t care. I don’t like it.” She explained. Ciaran returned from the closet and walked over to the bed. He sat next to her. “Finn you’re talking like a child.” He said in a normal tone that actually had a hint of sternness. “And you are talking like an adult. You’re fifteen Cia.” She said pestering him. Ciaran gave her a stern glance. His sister always insisted on acting like a child. He loved her, of course, he did, but why did he have to be the adult when she was older? Ciaran had grown up too fast and he knew this, but Finnea had grown up too slow. “Fine.” He said something finally. Finnea had been looking at the trunk, but she switched her gaze to Ciaran. She sighed. “I want to go with you so bad.” She said truthfully in a sad tone. She had just graduated, Finnea was used to going back to Hogwarts not work. Ciaran looked at her thoughtfully. “I know.” He started. “I want you to come back bad too.” He seriously. Things would be the same without her, this was for sure, but all Ciaran could do was hope for the better. Finnea smiled a bit at his words, but then gave her sad expression once again. Ciaran frowned. Things would defiantly different.

Finnea had left the room minutes before and Ciaran was left reading a book on his bed next to his trunk. Suddenly, he heard a knock on the door. “Come in.” He called looking up from his book on Warewolves. Ciaran’s father opened the door. “Ready?” He asked glancing over to Ciaran. “Yea.” Ciaran said standing up. “Be downstairs in five minutes.” He father told him. Ciaran nodded as his father left the room. Ciaran stood up and dragged his trunk from the bed. He moved it too the door. Ciaran looked around his spacious room one more time. He sighed. “Summers really over.” He said shaking his head as he left the room. Ciaran made his way over to the stairs. “Halt.” He heard Finnea’s voice. “What?” He asked not even bothering to turn around. “Wait for me downstairs. I’m taking you, but say your goodbyes to mum and dad quick. I want to be there a bit early to see some of my friends that are seventh years this year.” She explained Ciaran nodded. “Yea, hurried goodbyes.” He said sarcastically as he descended the stairs. Ciaran made his way to the living room after leaving the stairs. “Do you have everything?” His mother asked looking all sad and fidgety. “Yes.” Ciaran said nearing her. Without another word, his mother brought him into a tight embrace. “Be safe.” She said in a shaky voice. “I always do.” Ciaran said giving a hint of a smile to cheer her up. Ciaran’s father walked over to him and gave him a cheerful look. “Find a hobby this year. Please, do more than read.” He father is steadily. Ciaran nodded him head a bit. “Yea, I was thinking about trying out of Quidditch.” He said calmly. His father smiled at that. “Goodbye son.” He said just giving his son a handshake. Ciaran gave his father a brief hug and then Finnea came in the room. “C’mon Cia. I don’t want to be late.” She said nearing him. “Late? You’re not going back.” He said giving her a somewhat stern look. “Don’t remind me.” She murmured. “Ok, my mum, by dad.” She said. “Bye.” Ciaran said kindly. Finnea then took Ciaran’s hand and they apparated off.

They arrived at King’s Cross Station moments later. Ciaran looked around at the place. “Yep it looked the exact same.” However, Finnea apparently didn’t have to time look around because she was pulling Ciaran along. “Hurry Cia.” She said in an irritated voice. “Calm down.” He whined as she continued to pull him down the way. Finally, they reached the spot. “Platforms nine and ten.” Finnea murmured. “C’mon, let’s go.” She said. Finnea went first. She walked briskly through the platform without even flinching once. Ciaran was next. He pulled along his trunk as he walked briskly through the stone wall. He smiled upon entering a very familiar place. He was back in this world. The world of magic. True, he neighborhood outside of London was magical and hidden from muggles, but this place was different. Ciaran knew Hogwarts was around the corner. He would be there soon and this excited Ciaran. Ciaran soon found Finnea by the train. He looked around. “Finn, there is like no one here yet!” He called seeing they few people around him. “Chill Cia.” She said calmly. “Go read a book or something and wait.” Finnea said in an annoyed tone. “I have friends coming and..LUCY!” Finnea stopped and called her friend’s name seeing the girl. Finnea ran over to talk to her old friend leaving Ciaran alone. Ciaran sighed as he walked over and leaned against a stone wall. Ciaran waited calmly for people to show up.

Twenty minutes later, many people were running around. Ciaran left his leaning wall and went to find Finnea. The train would be leaving in fifteen minutes. He sighed walking towards Finnea who was babbling with Lucy and some more of her old friends. “Hello Lucy, Claire, Erin.” He said calmly to each of Finnea’s friends. They all giggled and Claire leaned her mouth towards Finnea’s ear. “You brother has certainly gotten cute.” She whispered, however Ciaran heard the whole thing. He acted like he didn’t, though. Ciaran eyed Finnea. “I think I’m about to go find a compartment.” He said to his sister. The girls giggled again. Finn gave him sad puppy eyes. “Aww and to think, we usually sit together on the train rides.” She said sadly. Ciaran gave her a small nod. “I’ll miss you Finn.” He said calmly. The other three girls all had the group aww. Ciaran rolled his eyes at them like a little girl. Finnea gave him a hug and again the other girls all thought it was cute. “Bye.” Ciaran said as he turned to leave. However, he could still hear their whispers for a few moments. “So, who wants him?” Finnea asked the other girls. By those words, she was secretly giving one of the three girls the right to Ciaran. However, Ciaran couldn’t hear the last of this sentence as he was now out of ear shot. “Me!” Erin said raising her hand and giggling. Claire rolled her eyes. “You have Anthony!” She called. “Oh, right.” Erin said sadly. “I say Lucy should get him since I like Bryan.” Claire said smiling. Lucy smiled in return. “Ok. Is that okay with you Finnea?” She asked her friends. “Of course!” Finn said giving Lucy a hug. Soon, it was time for the three Gryffindor seventh years to board the train. They all hugged and said there goodbyes. Finnea gave a few tears and then apparated to work. Ciaran walked through the isle to find an empty compartment which wasn’t hard at all. He didn’t usually like the back of the train, but it was quiet so he found a compartment back there. Ciaran took a seat by the door as he took out a book and began to read silently.

[Kia Brightstar]

"Kia!" Kia groaned and rolled over sleepily, pulling her duvet over her head. That voice had been screaming for at least half an hour, when all Kia wanted was to go back to sleep. "Kia! Kia!" Kae burst into the room and jumped onto her older sisters bed excitedly, bouncing on the bed and tugging at Kia insistently. Kia whined childishly, pulling her sister down to lie next to her and putting an arm around her loosely. "Kae, Kae, Kae. We go over this every year," Kia murmured sleepily, her right hand rising to rub her eyes irritably. She would never tell her sister that she was annoyed with her, even when the girl burst into the room at an absurdly early hour of the morning and expected Kia to be awake and ready to play. "You cannot get me up before nine AM. Especially when I'm going back to school." Kae opened her mouth in protest, wriggling away from her sister and rocking back on her heels. "But, Kia, you've woken up late and Dad sent me to wake you up," Kae tilted her head cutely, childishly bewildered by her sisters sleepiness. Little did the child know that Kia had been awake until just a few hours before, finishing off her homework and then practicing Gymnastics for a few hours before literally falling into bed and falling asleep instantly. Kia had been focusing so much on her Gymnastics that she had never found time for her homework, even if she had told her Dad that it was all finished and done with. And Ren had told her to practice as much as she could. It was a relief to finally be on friendly terms with her instructor, after three weeks of almost painful silence between the two. It had taken hours, and a lot of tears and yelling, but Kia had finally sorted things out with Ren.

"Late?" Kia gasped in shock, bolting upright instantly and almost falling off the bed. Kae snorted with laughter at her older sisters antics but nodded seriously, proving to Kia that she was being truthful. "Oh no," Kia sighed, looking around her bedroom hopelessly. She had packed yesterday, as her Dad had ordered, but she had needed to drag her books out of the trunk so that she could finish her homework. As a result, the contents of her trunk were scattered across the room haphazardly. Kae sighed in resignation. "You go and get a shower, I'll pack your trunk again while you shower and get some breakfast. And please don't forget that Adam is taking you to Kings Cross this year, and he's likely to be running just as late as you." Kae watched her sister dash out of the room, annoyance flickering through her blue eyes quickly. When would Kia learn to grow up? Sometimes, Kae felt like she was the oldest in a house of infants. Which really wasn't fair, Kae knew, since her sister had always sacrificed parts of her summer to mother her younger sister, making sure that Kae was well looked after. Occasionally, she felt inferior, when she saw how her Dad looked at Kia with such love, barely sending a glance her way. Maybe she really was blamed for her mothers death. But then the feelings passed, just as quickly as they had came, and Kae returned to her happy-go-lucky self, always on hand to help. Less than twenty minutes later, Kia bounced back into the room, her shining hair pulled back into a ponytail and a half-eaten croissant in her left hand. The last book was stuffed into the trunk and Kia hugged her sister lovingly, whispering a quick goodbye into her ear and dropping a light kiss onto her forehead before dashing back downstairs and flooing both her and her trunk to her Aunts house. Aunt Amelia and Uncle Robbie smiled at Kia wryly, tilting their heads toward a sleeping figure on the couch pointedly. Kia groaned exasperatedly, running and jumping on Adam forcefully. With such a crazy household, it was a wonder that Kia ever made it to Hogwarts, and that Adam had ever made it there. And when Kae was going there too, things would undoubtedly be far more hectic.

Despite the oversleeping on both Kia and Adams parts, proving just how alike they were at times, they arrived at Kings Cross Station with just under half an hour to spare. Adam dragged his cousins trunk through to the platform, quickly followed by Kia. "Twenty minutes to spare," Adam grinned triumphantly, ignoring Kia rolling her eyes. She had complained that she was going to be late and that it would be all Adams fault but here they were, twenty minutes early. It was so great to be back on the platform. Being on the platform implied that she was almost at Hogwarts. Almost back with all of her friends and away from the craziness and hectic lifestyle of her family. "I have to go, Skittle," Adam hugged her quickly before apparating away, leaving her standing by herself. For a few seconds, hurt and vulnerability was displayed on her face. But then she was dragged over to a circle of her friends and Kia grinned, joining in with the loud conversation happily. She was back with her friends, back with the family that she had chosen for herself. Teasing comments, wicked grins and loud laughter was almost a trademark for this particular circle of girls, but Kia didn't mind. They were interesting and amusing. Honest without being hurtful.

"I'm going to find a compartment," Kia shrugged calmly, simply smiling at the stricken looks on the faces of a few, younger, girls who were particularly fond of her. "You're not sitting with us?" Darla, often referred to as 'The Leader', glanced over at Kia carelessly, accepting the light shake of her head silently. It was no good to try and tie Kia down to one group. She enjoyed flitting from group to group far too much to ever settle down with just one group. Goodbyes were exchanged and Kia moved on with a gentle smile, often stopping for a few minutes and chatting with her friends and acquaintances. Although Kia had left the first group early in the hopes of getting an empty compartment, she had only boarded the train a few seconds before everyone else decided to. The back of the train, Kia decided quickly, slipping through the crowd to make her way to the back. "Ciaran," Kia grinned warmly, her eyes resting on the reading boy affectionately. Any shyness rising up inside her was abruptly thrown to the back of her mind. Hadn't she ordered herself to just think of him as a friend? And friends didn't feel shy around each other. They just didn't. It wasn't a very friendly thing to feel. "Mind if I join you?" Kia asked shyly. Darn it. The shyness had won. Pah. Fine, she would be shy around him. But Ciaran was only a friend and that's all he would ever be! Right?

[ciaran]

Ciaran looked up from his book at the sound of a voice. He smiled widely at Kia. He hadn’t seen her since that day in the park with Finnea, Adam, and Kae. Ciaran smiled remembering the day fondly. He had seen Kia at Hogwarts before that day, but Ciaran had never gone to talk to her. It wasn’t that he was shy, he was just. Oh, well what’s the word? He was concerned. Ciaran was always concerned and cautious. That is why he had such a hard time letting his guard down. How could he let a stranger just waltz into his life? What if they hurt him in any way or they knew too much about him? Oh, well all hopes were lost. Kia already knew too much about Ciaran. Why had he been to damn stupid and told her so much? Ciaran didn’t understand that himself. Every time he dwelled on it he just remembered how fun and pretty she was. No, Ciaran couldn’t feel that way about Kia! Or could he? Tired, of the emotional conga line in his head, Ciaran just continued to smile at Kia calmly as he closed his book and placed it in his lap. “Kia.” He said trying to let a natural tone come through. Why did he feel so stupid? Ciaran was supposed to be strong and mysterious. Right? “But, of course.” He grinned replying to her question. Ciaran pointed to an empty seat. “Sit, sit.” He said grinning calmly.

“So, how has the remainder of your summer been? It can’t be worse than the rest of mine. Finnea had me spending so much time with her I thought that she was somehow stuff herself in my suitcase and be smuggled to Hogwarts.” He said jokingly. Well, it was sort of a joke. “It will be a weird year without her I have to say.” He said looking at the window for a brief moment with a serious look on his face. However, after a few seconds he grinned and turned to Kia. “Well, at least the Gryffindor Common Room will be quieter.” He said nodding his head lightly. Ciaran was in a talkative mood for some reason or another. Well, everyone was in a good mood. Well, everyone that liked Hogwarts at least. Ciaran knew some people didn’t, but he really didn’t understand why. Hogwarts had been Ciaran’s home for the past five years and in two years that home would be taken from him. So, a year ago Ciaran promised that he would make the most of his Hogwarts experience. Basically, he had kept that promise. Ciaran smiled lightly at Kia. This yea would be different that was for sure, but maybe that was for the better. Maybe Ciaran would get to know Kia better. Who knew what could happen.

After a few minute had passed, Ciaran heard the familiar train whistle and he felt the wheels start to turn. Within a few hours, he would be at Hogwarts again. Ciaran felt as if school hadn’t ended so long ago, but he was glad to get back to Hogwarts. Ciaran smiled at Kia calmly. “Hogwarts here we come.” He said quietly still grinning. “I’m excited for this year actually. Even though I will have to take the OWLS and will have to wrack my brain out preparing for that. But, that will just mean I’ll have to study over time.” He said calmly. Ciaran eyed Kia. “So, do you have any goals in mind for the year? Anything you want to do?” He asked soundly. Ciaran didn’t have a problem with asking Kia questions. True, he was still getting to know her, but he would like to think that they were friends. Ciaran liked to learn about people because then he could learn to trust them more. Ciaran waited for Kia to respond as he looked out the window. Soon enough they would be in the midst of the country side. Hogwarts wasn’t far away and it was time for Ciaran to return to that world. The world of magic.